A Truth and a Lie
by Azzdj
Summary: Megan struggles to see the truth about her abusive relationship.  Requested by JackieandHydelover11
1. Chapter 1

**Thank you for reading this story, just so you know Megan is 18 and Drake and Josh are 22 in this! **

"_I love you, baby. I love to see you everyday, I love to watch you play the oboe, I love to watch you get so adorably angry, but most of all I love to see you smile. Cause it's all it takes to make me - the grumpiest guy ever -to do the same."_

"_I love you too my man" she said with a smile, expecting him to smile back at her after what he just stated. "You're so beautiful" he said and they both smiled their way into a passionate kiss._

Megan looked down at her phone. She had waited for him to text her back forever, and when he finally did, it broke her inside. She read it out loud, to make it more real.

"You're so ugly, I hate you." She liked the earlier version of Nick much more, so she decided to delete the text and remember the good times. "_Remember the good times"_. That sounded so weird. It was a thing old people said about their childhood or something that happened ages ago. Not something an 18 year old girl would say about a boyfriend who decided to completely change his personality just a few weeks ago. She looked at the newest postcard that Drake and Josh had sent and smiled, she didn't realize she would miss them both this much.

"Were home!" Drake yelled while opening the front door. He heard footsteps running towards him. His mom pulled him into a massive hug, and Walter- well Walter had no shame when it came to hugging. He must have passed that on to Josh. Drake could barely breath as he somehow said "Okay Walter, I'm glad to see you too. Can't…breathe…" Walter pulled away with I goofy smile. Drake saw Megan coming down the stairs and thought for a second how different she looked. "Drake!" she yelled out and hugged him tightly. "I missed you"

Drake half-expected Megan to put a note on his back, but shrugged it off.

"But… Where's Josh?"

Right on cue, Josh came in all sweaty with a bunch of bags. He was making his way through the door almost tripping with every step he took.

"You know…YOU COULD'VE HELPED ME WITH THE BAGS DRAKE!"

They all just laughed. The last time they were all in this house together was almost a year ago.

When they had all settled down, Audrey called them all for dinner. She was excited to hear all about Drake and Josh's travelling. It was something they had decided to do last minute, just take the year off and go enjoy the world".

"Is Nick coming over for dinner tonight honey? Audrey said while putting some spaghetti in her mouth.

"No… He's not feeling well" Megan said while looking at her food.

"Who's Nick?" Drake said with his mouth full of food.

"Megan's boyfriend since almost a year now". Audrey said while smiling at Megan.

"What!" Drake and Josh said together. Then they both looked at Megan.

"Settle down boys, he is a great guy. Really polite and he treats Megan well" Walter finally said.

They all continued eating and exchanging stories while Megan went to her room. She couldn't believe that she had them all so fooled. Yes, she was doing her best to hide the truth about Nick, but somehow it made her upset that her parents hadn't even noticed a tiny bit that everything was different. _Everything. And it was just the beginning. _


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for reading and reviewing guys!  
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She was sitting in front of a big mirror. Right where the big poster used to be. She smiled when she thought about that one time when Drake and Josh tried to expose her pranking ways to their parents. They had actually tried to outsmart her. It was easy being the baby in the family; everything she did was cute and harmless. She knew that Drake and Josh had each other, and mom and Walter did things on their own. But she always had those pranks to weasel her way into her brothers' lives. They would get mad, but at least they would spend a few minutes actually noticing her. Now the pranking days were over, and it made her feel a bit sad.

"Can I come in?" he said as he knocked on the door. A moment later Drake was standing inside her room. "Are you going somewhere?" he said as she put on her earrings. Megan smiled at the mirror, seeing Drakes reflection. "I'm going out with Nick."

"Oh, I get it! Ditching your own brother on his first night back after a year away, just to spend time with prince Mike!" Drake was acting all dramatic, rolling his eyes and holding his right hand to his chest. Megan couldn't hold back a laugh, and looked at him with both her eyebrows raised and corrected him- "Nick!" she yelled. Drake walked over to her and something in his eyes changed when he looked at the mirror. A very tiny, almost unnoticeable smile formed on Drakes lips.

"So how well do you even know this guy? How old is he? Where is he taking you? Don't tell me he's driving you there!" Megan rolled her eyes and responded to all his questions like a robot. "Pretty good considering he's been my boyfriend for almost a year now, he is 18, _as am I_" she said through her teeth and with an intense glare, to somehow let Drake know that she is not a little child anymore. "We're hanging out at the premiere and FYI, yes he is going to drive me."

Drake just watched her for a moment. "So he's better now?"

"What?" Megan said actually not knowing what Drake was talking about. " You said he was not feeling well to mom, so all of a sudden he's well?"

"God, Drake. Mom wants him over for dinner all the time, I'm trying not to let him catch some goofiness from this family; I hear goofiness is contagious."

"Don't worry Megs, he is probably immune from spending so much time with you" With that, Drake left her room while laughing.

Megan and Nick were just getting out of the movie. A movie they had not really been paying attention to. She looked at the dark haired young man beside her; he had the sweetest face she had seen in her life. His features were young but still manly. His dark, almost black eyes looked at her as he grabbed her hand. "I'll get us drinks, you want a mocha cola right?" he said as he pulled her towards the counter where Josh usually stood. She missed seeing him there so much. "Well, actually…" Megans words just stopped. She didn't want to mess up a perfect date, but she had promised her mom to come home right after the movie. "What is it babe?" Nick had a way of looking all innocent, like she was being the devil for not being able to stay. "I can't stay, I promised my mom I would be home right after the movie" she said while giving a small pout, and taking his hand into both of hers. Nick pushed her hands away harshly, making an angry face. "Maybe you're the kind of girl who doesn't like being told what to do" he said. Megan just looked at him shocked. "Maybe I should've _asked_ you instead. _Will_ you have a drink with me?" His tone was very angry and sarcastic. Megan could barely believe what she was hearing. He started walking out the door with Megan behind him, pleading. "But Nick wait! It's not that, I promise! I do want to be with you I just can't stay longer or my mom will kill me!" They were almost by his car when he turned around causing Megan to bump into his chest. He pushed her away and slapped her hard across the face. It happened faster than lightning, and it felt somewhat like lightning as well. The slap made a horrible, loud sound and it stung badly. Megans eyes were tearing up and she felt as if something heavy was on her chest. There was no regret whatsoever in Nicks eyes. There was certainly no regret in the sound of his car driving off leaving her stranded and hurt.

Megan was halfway home when her phone rang. Mom hade called her once already, and that was fine. But having to explain 2 missed calls from her was always a pain. Everything was a pain. She wasn't ready to pick up the phone, her mom would hear her crying. It wasn't easy for her to hide the crying. Megan had to choose special occasions reserved for just that-crying. No one could ever see her, especially not her family. It is for this reason that going all the way to her house by foot wasn't all that bad. It was kind of what she needed, she needed some time for herself. The calls came more frequent now. From mom, Walter, Drake and Josh. Why was that? Why did they _all_ have to call her?

She entered the house and she could hear someone yelling her name. Audrey walked up to her raising a finger as she yelled at Megan. "I specifically remember telling you to come home right after the movie, Megan! And why weren't you picking up your phone? You had us worried sick!" Luckily Megan had just spent an hour figuring out an explanation to her mom. "Mom, look I'm sorry. Nick and I left the premiere right after the movie but we got stuck in traffic. Our phones were acting all weird, and people went to a gas station nearby to call their friends and stuff, but Nick and I figured it was safer to stay in the car and wait for the traffic to clear up." Megan made direct eye contact, she knew that was the one thing she had to do in order to make a perfect lie. Audrey looked at her for a while before she sighed and hugged her daughter. Getting a hug almost made Megan cry all over again.

"So I guess you and I have something in common" Drake said right when Megan was going to open her bedroom door. He continued, "We are both great liars." There was a moment of silence before Drake asked Megan where she had been. "I'm sorry if I had you worried, I saw that you called me a few times" Megan finally answered. "Oh please, mom made us all call you. She was practically hysterical" he laughed. "I thought so." She said. Megan was slightly disappointed that Drake hadn't cared.

"Hey! How was your date with Nick?" Josh had come up from behind them, startling them both. "It was fine, we had a lot of fun." _We did, didn't we? It's not like I was lying about the date._ "Watched a movie and then we left" she answered. "What movie did you watch?" Josh asked. "Well… I don't really know, we weren't really _watching _it" She said with a smile. "Ew!" came out of both Drake and Josh.

When Megan entered her room she looked at her phone. No texts from Nick, but there was one from Drake. "_Megs, you don't have to answer my calls if you're afraid mom will hear us talking, just send me a text and let me know you are ok, please?"_

She almost wished she could go back in time and reply to Drake, saying she was far from okay.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you so much for the reviews, they make me really happy! Here is another chapter. And just so you know, I plan on making this story a bit more dark with some shocking stuff coming in later chapters, so beware! ;)  
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><p>"Look baby, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I promise."<p>

Megan just looked at her boyfriend. His big brown eyes were pleading with such sweetness. It was hard to think that those were the same eyes that she had seen yesterday.

"This is the fourth time you've slapped me." She said with a harsh tone.

Nick looked at Megan, he was surprised that she had kept count. "I'm so sorry Megan, I really am."

Megan wasn't about to forgive him that easily, she was tired of it all. Being with Nick had been so complicated lately. _Why was she even with him?_

"How could I ever hurt this pretty face?" he said while stroking her cheek with his left hand. _That's why._

It was a reflex, she didn't meet Nick with the intention to forgive him, but for some reason she leaned in against his hand and closed her eyes. He could make her feel so safe, so special, so loved. He smiled, and that was it. What Megan thought was going to be a breakup, was in the process of being a make up. He pulled her into a hug and whispered softly into her ear. "It'll never happen again. _I promise." _

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><p>Josh was talking to Helen at the premiere. He had a couple months left before he had to get back to college, and he was wondering if she needed any extra help in the meantime.<p>

"Who are you?" she said while looking at him like he was a weirdo.

"I'm Josh! Josh Nichols!" He yelled like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I see! Do you work here, Josh?

"Well, no not exactly." Josh said while trying to explain the past that Helen had clearly forgotten.

"Do you want a job?"

He stared at her for a while. "Yes. Yes I do."

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><p>Nick was coming over for dinner tonight, and even though he had been nice ever since that incident a week ago, Megan still couldn't help but worry. If something happened in front of her parents, everything would be over. They would overreact and she would have to stop seeing him. She also wanted him to make a good first impression on her brothers. There was a knock on the front door and Megan ran to get it.<p>

"Hi." Was all he said. He looked so attractive that Megan wanted to grab his arm and run away from this house. "Hi!" she said back and then he kissed her. "I brought some pie" he said and Megan rolled her eyes. He was such a suck-up to her mom. Audrey always fell for it though. She gladly accepted the pie and welcomed Nick inside.

The dinner had gone pretty had gone pretty smoothly. Drake had behaved. Josh had behaved. But most importantly, Nick had behaved. Finally, they could leave the house to go to the bowling hall. Megan would always feel on edge while Nick was around her family, she wanted to make sure that _if_ something happened, she would be the only one knowing about it.

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><p>"Hey Parker!" A familiar voice startled Megan. She turned around and when she saw Ethan she hugged him tightly.<p>

"Oh my god! Ethan how are you!" She said smiling.

"I'm fine, Megs! How have you been? How's your mom and Drake?" Ethan was smiling just as much as Megan.

"We're all fine, wow it's so nice to see you again."

"You too, you have really grown up!" There was a moment of silence until Nick cleared his throat loudly.

"Oh I'm sorry, this is my boyfriend Nick Rivers. Nick, this is my childhood neighbor Ethan McNeal. He moved to Washington a few years ago." The boys gave each other a simple "hey" and they were all left with an awkward silence.

"Well, I should get going. I'll come visit sometime Megs, I'd love to see Drake again."

"Yeah that sounds great, it was so nice seeing you, Ethan."

Nick kept a smile on his face until the moment Ethan was out the door. He turned to Megan and grabbed her arm really tight. "Who the fuck was that?" he said.

Megan pulled her arm away and answered defensively "I told you who he is."

Nick grabbed her arm again and pulled her out of the building. "You want him coming to your house?" Nicks tone was so intense it was hard to think of an answer. She started stuttering but he cut her off. "Do you like him?" This question made Megan feel very angry, she couldn't even believe he had the nerve to ask her that. Especially since all she had done was being polite to an old friend for a short minute. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you even ask me that? Are you stupid?" she said angrily.

"Why are you having such a hard time denying it then?"

"Because you're a dick!" Megan yelled. She was boiling with anger. Suddenly Nick pushed her towards the outer wall of the bowling hall and grabbed her throat with his right hand. Megan felt terrified as she was struggling to breathe. "You're so stupid!" he yelled as he punched her causing her lip to bleed. Megan started crying hysterically. Both in pain and in fear. Nick had turned into someone else, and she didn't know how far he could go with this.

"I'm sorry!" she cried out and Nick stopped his fist mid-air. He let go of her throat and listened to her cry. Megans brown, straight hair was in her face and he gently brushed it away. "It's okay." He said. "I forgive you."

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><p>As soon as she entered the house, someone turned the TV off. He walked towards her.<p>

"Why is your lip bleeding Megan?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for reading and reviewing! It seriously means a lot. And about Nick, I just came up with the name Rivers. So, it's not connected to Zoey 101. **

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><p><em>Shit. <em>Megan hadn't thought of the fact that her lip was still bleeding. This was a stupid, clumsy mistake that she could not afford making. Drake was still waiting for an answer, he crossed his arms and stood right in front of her. _Think of something! Fast! _

"Oh, it's nothing" Megan finally said while brushing away the blood. It had dried and she had to rub it hard to get it off her lip. "What do you mean nothing? What happened?"

"There was this guy at the bowling hall that accidentally elbowed me." She said while walking towards the kitchen. She could feel her skin getting warm, and she wanted to hide the fact that she was blushing. "He got all scared, he even offered to buy me a mocha cola to make it up to me." She said while smiling. Drake wasn't convinced because it all seemed so strange, but there was nothing he could say, really. Then he saw it. His eyes were the size of footballs, he opened his mouth to say something but couldn't get any words out. "Megan! Your throat!" he finally said while pointing at her. The bruising was not very visible, but it was there.

Drake had never seen Megan that way. She was beyond angry with him, she yelled insults to him left and right. It was different from a few years ago when she said stuff playfully, this time was so serious. Megan had refused to admit that there even _was_ a bruise on her throat.

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><p>Megan was sitting quietly, staring at her food. She had covered the bruise with makeup but was still paranoid about her parents noticing it.<p>

"Megan, why aren't you eating? Is the food not good?" Walter said with a sort of childish voice. "I am eating." She said back coldly. He looked at her for a moment. "Megan, you are not. Is something wrong?" _God, who cares about the stupid food?_

"Walter! Get off my back would you?" she said, raising both her eyebrows.

"Megan!" was all Audrey could say before Megan left the room, leaving everybody surprised. "Me and her had a bit of a fight earlier. Not a big deal, I'll go apologize" Drake said while getting up. He didn't even go talk to her though.

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><p>Megan was sitting in her room. She was contemplating whether or not she should call Nick. He had scared her to death the yesterday, but that was just because <em>she<em> had been stupid enough to insult him like that._ No wonder he got all mad. _She decided it was time to make things a little better with Nick, a call was definitely in order.

"Hello?" came from the other line. "Hi, honey. I miss you." she said with a smile on her face. It was good to hear his voice.

"What do you want, Megan?" Nick responded like he was annoyed with her.

"Nothing, I just called to see how you were doing…"

"I'm fine." He said. It felt weird not having him ask her how she was.

"So, what are you doing?" She tried to make him come around. Maybe he was just tired.

"I'm playing pool." Nick's voice was clearly annoyed now. Once again he didn't ask anything back. "With who?" she said, trying to make conversation.

"Why? You checking up on me? I can play pool whenever I want, with whoever I want, you know." Megan was shocked. _How did he spin her question around to that?_

"What? No! I was just wondering, baby." She said feeling insecure.

"You're such a _stupid _bitch." He said and hung up. Tears were forming in Megans eyes.

He couldn't have meant it, right? He had no reason to be angry, she didn't do or say anything out of the ordinary. He must have been really stressed out about something else, he has always made sure to let Megan know that he loves her. So she did what first came to mind. She went to the premiere to see him.

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><p>When Megan showed up, Nick was still playing pool. He was with three of his friends, she knew them all relatively well. She didn't even make it to his table before he laid eyes on her. His smile faded, and he was walking to her with fast steps.<p>

"You just _had_ to come see for yourself? What the hell is wrong with you?" I'm with _friends_ Megan!" Nick yelled out, his face was turning red. The girl had no idea this would be his reaction. "If you would just let me explain." She said while closing her eyes in frustration. He grabbed her arms tightly and made a furious face, then it seemed like it just occurred to him where they were. In the middle of the premier, with lots of people around. He let go of her arms and motioned with one of his hands to the entrance.

"Just get the fuck out." He said. Suddenly Josh was standing next to them. He hadn't been able to hear anything they said, but from the looks of it, they were fighting.

"Is there a problem here?" he said as he eyed them both.

"No, I was just about to take Megan home." Nick said politely. Josh looked at Megan who just nodded at him, and he went back to work.

Megan spent the rest of the day in her room. She didn't want to see anyone or talk to anyone. She didn't want anyone to see_ her._

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><p>When Josh got home, he found Drake playing with a bunch of carrots.<p>

"What the hell are you doing?" he said while shaking his head. He would never tell anyone, but he secretly loved it when Drake did something silly like this.

"I'm making a fort! A carrot fort!" Drake said excitedly. "Oh, God." Was all Josh had to say back. He was laughing on the inside though, but then he remembered what he wanted to talk to Drake about.

"You know, I saw Megan and Nick at the premiere earlier. They were fighting."

Drake stopped what he was doing. " About what?" He was very curious about this.

" I have no idea, I went up to them and they both just shrugged it off."

"Hm. Did she seem okay?" Drake asked. "Yeah, I mean they were just talking sort of loudly to each other, he took her home right after I came up to them so I guess they worked it out."

"Yeah." Drake answered. He hadn't seen Megan all day though.

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><p>He knocked on her door. "Hey Megan, it's Drake."<p>

Megan panicked and jumped up from her bed. She pulled out her covers violently and lay down on her side, trying to conceal her black eye. Just a second later, Drake opened her door and walked inside. He shut the door behind him and saw Megan turned with her back to him. He had heard the commotion of her pulling at the covers and running around the bed, so he figured she wasn't really sleeping, she was just avoiding people.

He wasn't going to play that game though, not tonight. He needed to talk to her.

Drake opened her bedroom door and shut it right after, causing Megan to sigh and turn around. He had tricked her this way a lot of times when they were little. When they saw each other, they both had the same facial expression on their faces. Shock.


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you very much for the reviews, I LOVE getting them! So, here's the next chapter!**

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><p>Megan started crying. She knew there was no point in trying to come up with a lie. Drake knew, and there was nothing she could do about it. She wondered why he didn't say or do anything. He just stared at her. She sat down on her bed, looking up at her brother.<p>

"Oh god. He did this to you?" Drake finally said. Megan didn't quite understand why he felt the need to actually ask her.

She sighed and rested her hands on her thighs. "Who?"

"Stop it, Megan. You know who." Drake could barely control himself from exploding with anger. He wanted to kill Nick, but right now he focused his anger on Megan.

"It's none of your business." Was her response. Drake looked at her, shocked. _None of his business?_ "You're my little sister! How is it not my business!" he had raised his voice and he was waving his arms around when he spoke.

"Except I'm not _little_. I can take care of myself!"

It took Drake some time to actually understand her words. He couldn't believe what she was saying, it was like she was someone else. "Yeah, clearly! Now, you're going to tell me where this idiot ex-boyfriend of yours lives."

Megan stood up and moved closer to Drake. She was no longer sad, she was angry with Drake for thinking that he could just tell her what to do. "No! You can't boss me around, Drake. It's my life."

"Megs, he _hit _you!" Why the hell would you accept that?" When Megan didn't answer, Drake felt the urge to ask her something. Something he wasn't sure he wanted the answer to. "Has this happened before?" he said, lowering his voice.

Megan didn't respond, she looked down at her feet. Drake shook his head and asked her again. "The cut on your lip, was that him too?" Then he realized something. "Megan? Has this been going on for a year? He asked, afraid of the answer.

"He didn't hit me okay?" Megan wasn't sure why she said that, it just automatically came out of her mouth. It was like she completely forgot the entire conversation that had been going on. There was something incredibly hard about actually saying Nick…_hit her_ out loud. Especially to Drake. It was easier to just deal with it on her own.

"What?" was all Drake had to say. He felt extremely uncomfortable about what Megan just said. Did she honestly believe that he was going to let it go just like that?

"Megan, what are you talking about? I know he did this to you. You can stop lying now."

"Look, I'm supposed to be at Janie's' house. You're wrong about Nick, so just let it go."

"Mom's gonna ask you about the black eye."

"She already knows I got hit by a ball in gym." She said with a cocky voice. Megan left the room, leaving Drake inside feeling very unsure about what to do. Should he tell his parents? What should he say?

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><p>Megan had gotten Nick's text, and even though she was still mad at him, something about the fight with Drake had made her defensive on his part. Drake was making him out to be some sort of crazy, violent jerk. She knew Nick better than anyone, she knew he was sweet, and that he loved her. <em>He did love her.<em> She got into his car and sat silently as they drove to his house. When they went in, she noticed that the house was empty.

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><p>Drake walked into his room seeing Josh playing videogames. He sat next to him and watched him play, he wanted to tell him about Megan, but how exactly do you start of a conversation like that?<p>

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><p>Megan gave him an angry look when he tried to take her hand. She looked into those dark, blackish eyes of his and it all came back to her. <em>What was she doing here?<em>

"I don't know what I'm doing here." She said and turned around.

Nick quickly jumped in front of her. "Hey hey, don't be like that okay?" She gave him another angry look. "I made a huge mistake, it wasn't your fault. It was mine. I'm sorry."

Once again, Megan gave her boyfriend an angry look, but she secretly loved it when Nick apologized to her. She was in control, she had his fate in her hands. Plus, he looked cute when he begged. His blue shirt was fitting his body perfectly, his dark hair was a little longer than when she first met him, but it was still pretty short. His dark eyes were pleading, he looked like a little puppy asking for food.

Megan sighed. "You've said that a lot lately."

He looked down at her, "I know, but I've changed. I realized how lucky I am to be with you. You're so special Megan. If only you knew how I feel about you."

She didn't say anything. For a moment she wished that her feelings for him would go away, because that would mean that she could just be done with him and move on from this mess that had been building up lately. Maybe she would be able to resist him this time.

"I love you." Nick said as he looked in to her eyes. _Damn it._

He gave her a little smile. "I also wanted you over here to give you something."

He pulled out a little box and opened it excitedly. Suddenly he was holding a golden necklace in his hands, and he went to stand behind her.

"Happy anniversary." He said as he put it on over her hair, and then gently lifted it over the necklace. It was beautiful, it was shining like a star, and it had a little heart on it.

He grabbed her waist from behind and pulled her in to a hug. _She loved it when he hugged her from behind._

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><p>"Look, Josh." He said as he removed his feet from the table. Josh looked at him, waiting for him to keep saying words. "Megan has a black eye."<p>

Josh stopped playing, he turned the TV off and turned so he was sitting in front of Drake.

His hands started shaking as he stood up. "Nick." He said. Drake nodded.

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><p>Megan turned around. She wanted to see the face that came with that beautiful voice.<p>

"I love you too. Thank you for the necklace, it's beautiful." _Somehow, it always came back to this._

Nick smiled, showing his perfect teeth. He gave her a quick kiss, and proceeded to hold her lower back. She put her arms around his neck and they looked at each other for a little while. "Since it is our- oh I don't know- one year anniversary" he said playfully while looking to his upper right. "Would you like me to take you somewhere, my lovely lady?"

She smiled at his sweetness. _He was the one for her._ She was sure of it. "No, let's just hang out here, your parents are away, right?" Nick smiled and nodded. They went up to his bedroom and started making out on his bed.

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><p>Drake cried. He had never done it before. Sure, he had cried when he was little and hurt himself, he had cried when his dad left them, he had cried that one time when Josh was done being his brother, but there is one thing in common with all of these situations. He had always cried out of selfish reasons. He had never cried for someone else before. <em>On someone else's behalf<em>. Josh tried to make him feel better, he tried telling him it wasn't his fault. He could understand Drake though, because he would blame himself just as much if he was in Drakes shoes.

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><p>Megan was on top of Nick. He reached towards her and took off her brown cardigan. He smiled upon seeing her in that loose, white tank top. <em>She looked so sexy. <em>Her long, shiny hair was slightly curly, she had just the right amount of make up on to make her even more beautiful. They rolled over on his bed, and now he was the one on top of her.

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><p>Drakes tears wouldn't stop. It was like his entire body had been saving up water just for his eyes to use for crying. He didn't cry hysterically, or loudly though. He just felt an empty sadness as the silent tears fell. He was sitting on the long side of his bed, facing the door to his bedroom. He rested his back against the wall, and drew his knees up to his face. He didn't know a person could feel this much guilt over something.<em> He could've prevented it.<em>

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><p>Nick started grabbing her body, digging his head into her chest. He had touched her before, he was her boyfriend after all. But the way he was acting this time, there was something about it. He wasn't as gentle as he used to be.<p>

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><p>Josh came in with a plate. He was carrying sandwiches for Drake who hadn't been eating anything in two days. When Drake saw him, he just shrugged.<p>

"Dude, you've got to eat something." Josh said while walking to Drake's bed.

Drake hadn't even got out of bed today, and it was almost dark out. "You have to stop beating yourself up over it, it wasn't your fault."

Drake let out a sob. The kind you can't hold back after you've been crying.

"Yes, it is Josh." He said with tears in his voice.

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><p>When Nick started putting his hand down Megans black, skinny jeans, she jerked away.<p>

They continued making out, but then she felt his hand under her tank top. He was moving both his hands to her bra, unhooking it slowly. She started pulling away, hoping he would get the hint. She wasn't ready for what he wanted.

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><p>"Nobody blames you, but you." Josh said while climbing up to Drake's bed. He sat next to Drake, pulling his knees up just like him. "Megan doesn't blame you either."<p>

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><p>Nick moved towards Megan again. Suddenly he sat up, removing his shirt. He threw it down on the floor and put his weight on Megan again.<p>

"Nick…" she said while trying to make him stop kissing her. "Nick, stop."

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><p>"You're just saying that, Josh." Drake said as he put one of his hands on his face. He felt exhausted. Josh sighed. "I'm not. I'm just trying to make you realize it."<p>

"If I had followed my instincts, this would've never happened." He looked at Josh with tears in his eyes. "And you're just saying that stuff because I'm your brother."

"I didn't do anything either, Drake." Josh responded. "I was suspicious too, but I figured that we would ask her together when she got home." There was a moment of silence.

"So, was it my fault that it happened?" Josh asked. Drake gave him a surprised look. "Why would you say that? Of course not!"

"You see Drake, I know you're just saying that to me because I'm your brother."

"No! Josh, seriously. You didn't know for sure, you didn't know it was this urgent. You couldn't have done anything about it. It was his fault, and his fault _only." _Josh stared at Drake and nodded. Drake let a quick breath out. He knew what Josh was doing, and he felt a weight being lifted of his shoulders.

* * *

><p>Either Nick didn't hear her, or he didn't care very much. He started unbuttoning her jeans and that's when Megan had enough. "Hey!" She said as she gave a small push on his shoulders. He sighed and got off of her. "What!" he yelled at her.<p>

Megan started buttoning her jeans again. "I'm not ready for this, Nick."

"Not ready?" he repeated. "One year, Megan. We have been together one year. Today."

She made a weird face at his strange response. What did that have to do with anything?

"I mean I don't want to." She said angrily, and tried to locate her bra somewhere on the bed. "You're the one who wanted to stay home tonight. You're the one who asked if my parents were gone." He said like a robot.

Megan finally found her bra and sighed at the problem of putting it on without having to take of her tank top. "I _said_ I'm not ready. If you ask me one more time, we're done." Megan was pushing away her fear of this young man, if there was one thing she had ever appreciated about him, it was the fact that he was gentle, caring and wasn't pushy when it came to sex.

Suddenly, she found herself on the bed again. Nick's weight was pushing her down, there was no escape from his hold. The soft bed underneath her was no longer comfortable, the boy on top of her was no longer her boyfriend. He wasn't attractive in any way, in fact he was ugly inside and out. She started panicking when she heard his belt being undone.


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you soooo much for the kind reviews. You are seriously the best! I might start writing the next chapter immediately, so there is a big chance that I am writing it as you are reading this ;) **

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><p><em>The events that took place last night were still echoing in Drakes mind. But to hear that Megan didn't blame him made everything a little better. She hadn't seemed upset with him, but he hadn't been sure about her feelings either. All he knew was that he was going to be there for her, he was going to be her rock. It felt nice to take a step forward like this.<em>

* * *

><p>Megan would have never thought that he would react like this. If she had known, she wouldn't have stood up to him like that. She felt weak when she was with him, he always had so much control over her.<p>

"Nick, please just stop." She said with a scared voice. She was hoping that he would realize what he was doing. He wasn't really going to pursue this was he? It seemed to unreal. Nick touched her chest and moaned. He grabbed both her hands and pushed her down. She started panicking, kicking, trying to get away. When she couldn't, she started screaming. "Nick!" Get off me!" She was still struggling and she started crying hysterically. She almost choked on her own cries.

"Get off me, please! I don't want this Nick!" she cried out.

Nick had enough of her pleads. "Stop moving around!" he yelled louder than she thought was humanly possible. His way of yelling caused him to spit in Megans face and she winced. She was disgusted by the boy's saliva, even though she had made out with him a just a few minutes ago.

He let go of her wrists, and started pulling off her tank top. Megan was shaking as he roughly grabbed it and yanked it off, causing it to rip open. He inspected her naked stomach, and made an evil smile. With her hands now free, she punched him across the face. She was strong, but Nick didn't move. Blood was forming on his lip and he looked at her with disgust. He sat on top of her and hit her two times, making her shut up. He once again grabbed her all over, and she winced in pain. He pulled her jeans off and she made another attempt of breaking free. She was twisting and turning and yelled at Nick.

"Please let me go!"

She elbowed him in his eye, making his head jolt back. Nick pressed his knee on her left hip and punched her again, then he grabbed something from his pocket. He pulled his boxers down. "Put it on."

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><p><em>Drake went in to his sister's room. She had requested to be alone, but he couldn't help himself. She was laying on her bed, playing around with her phone. She made it flip as she grabbed it and turned it over. Over and over again.<em>

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><p>Megan didn't respond to him. She was just crying and shaking violently. When he repeated himself, all she could do was shake her head. "Put it on bitch! Or will <em>kill<em> you!"

She cried harder. It was the only thing that was easy to do at the moment. She grabbed it and struggled to get it open with her trembling hands. She was too scared of him not to obey.

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><p><em>Drake sat behind her on the bed. She immediately knew who it was.<em>

"_Josh says you blame yourself." She said, still flipping the phone around. Drake didn't even know what to say. When he didn't respond, Megan let go of her phone. "It wasn't your fault, Drake." Drake had promised himself to stay strong, but he couldn't hold the tears back._

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><p>Nick pushed her down again and pressed her collarbone with his right hand as he looked at her. He looked unbelievably evil. His dark brown eyes were the most horrible eyes she had seen in her life. His weight was overwhelming. Suddenly she wasn't crying hysterically anymore, she was sobbing softly, almost sounding like a baby. She could just wait for it to be over.<p>

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><p><em>Drake hesitated before he put his hand on her back. He knew it was coming but it hurt him anyway. Megan tensed at his touch, but then she relaxed. "He won't get away with it, Megs." He could see her nodding, and it gave him some sort of encouragement.<em>

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><p>She couldn't really move. Her entire body felt tense and uncomfortable. He was actually the one to put on her clothes again. He didn't care about the blood on her thighs as he pushed her jeans back on. Megan finally got up, looking shockingly at the boy that she used to cherish. She slowly and painfully put on her tanktop, visibly shaking in the process. <em>What was he going to do with her now?<em>

"If you say anything, I'll kill you." Then he smiled and said. "Nobody would believe you anyway."

A few minutes later she found herself on the street. It was dark out, and she could barely make it forward because of the pain. Her phone kept buzzing and with shaking hands she picked up. She didn't care anymore. She knew that there was no more Nick, she knew that there were no more lies to tell Drake.

"Drake." She cried out. Drakes eyes widened as he looked at Josh across the room.

"What happened?" Drake said loudly. Josh saw the worry in his brothers eyes and raised his eyebrows looking for Drake to tell him something. Drake didn't acknowledge him, because Drake didn't have anything to answer him with. All he could hear was Megan crying. "Megan, tell me what happened!" he was getting really scared now.

"He got mad…I didn't want to have… I should…should've listened to you…he…oh god…"

Drake could barely make out what his sister was saying. She was mixing her words with sobs and fast breaths.

"Listen to me, tell me exactly where you are."

Josh continued to stare at Drake, and felt his heart skip a beat when he saw Drake mouth "car keys". He nodded as he found them in his left pocket and held them out so that Drake could see.

"I don't know, I'm just…" She could barely talk. "Please come get me." She cried out to her brother. He grimaced and felt himself panic. "I will, Megan, I promise. But you have to tell me where you are so I can find you." He waited for a while and listened to her breathing. "Take a deep breath, Megs." He could hear her do what she was told and finally she answered. "By the school."

It was the only place she could think of saying, and soon after the call ended she made the short walk to school.

"Come on, we have to hurry Josh." Drake said as he pulled on a black sweatshirt.

"What happened!" Josh asked while they made their way downstairs. Their parents weren't home, they didn't really know where they were.

"I don't know, something with Nick. Let's just get there." Drake said as he opened the door to the car.

The parked the car on the school parking lot and searched around for Megan.

"There!" Josh yelled and they both ran towards a brunette girl sitting on a bench, hugging herself tightly to keep warm. She was only wearing a white tank top, and when they got closer they could both see all the bruises on Megan. She was shaking violently and when she saw her brothers she felt a mix of relief and shame. Drake kneeled in front of her and wrapped his sweatshirt around her cold shoulders. Drake and Josh looked at each other, both unsure of what to say or do next.

"Megs, what happened?" Drake said calmly. All she responded with was more crying.

He sighed. "Did he hit you?" He mentally kicked himself for saying that. _Of course _he hit her. You just had to take one glance at her to understand that. Her face was bruised all over, same with her collarbone and her shoulders. Her lip was bleeding, and her eyes were red and swollen. Both her wrists showed a strong color of blueish red.

Megan nodded. "What happened to make him angry?" Josh stepped in.

She looked at him with the most helpless eyes he had ever seen. "I didn't want…I wasn't ready." She said and cried. Drake was still sitting in front of her. "Not ready for what, Megan?" he said, already fearing the answer. He tried to hide the anger in his voice, but failed. He remembered being angry with Megan never made her open up, it always bade things worse, so he made his voice a little softer. "It's okay, whatever it is, you can tell us."

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><p><em>Megan turned around and looked at Drake. "If it wasn't for you, I don't know what I would've done." Drake looked at his sister. "I could've prevented it. I could have saved you." He said. Megan shook her head. "No you couldn't. Because I wouldn't let you. I wasn't listening to you. I was being an idiot and I am the only one to blame for it."<em>

_Drake opened his mouth, a little shocked at what he just heard. "Megan once again, this wasn't your fault… It wasn't." he repeated for effect. "It makes me sad that you think it was." He added. She gave him a small smile, almost invisible, but it was the first one he had seen in a while and it almost made him smile back. "Well, now you know how I feel, you goof." Drake actually felt himself smile this time._

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><p>"He wanted to do it tonight" she managed to say. Drake and Josh stared at her, they both knew what she meant but they needed to hear her say it so they could be sure.<p>

They both opened their mouths to say something but Megan beat them to it.

"I didn't want to have sex." She cried even harder, then continued.

"He…He made me."

Drake got up and sat next to her, he put his arm around her and she winced when he made contact with her bruises. She leaned in against Drake and sobbed. "He raped me."


	7. Chapter 7

**I **_**did**_** write the next chapter immediately! ;) I think I've mentioned that my English can get bad when im tired and it's like the middle of the night here so if my English is bad at times, im sorry. Thank you so much for reviewing and reading, it makes my day! :) **

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><p>Megan, Drake and Josh were all quiet. They were all in a hug, until Josh broke it off.<p>

"Megan, I think we need to take you to the hospital." He said, feeling unsure about how she would react.

"No. I'm fine." She said. Then she realized why Josh said that, and she felt embarrassed.

Drake was feeling just as uneasy about the topic, but there was no time for that now. He needed to be sure that Megan hadn't caught anything from that bastard.

"Did he…did he use a condom?" he said as he closed his eyes. He could barely believe the conversation they were having. He was asking whether or not the guy who raped his little sister used a condom. The guy that he had met, the guy that he had dinner with, the guy that was welcomed in to his home. He was now boiling with anger, but he wouldn't show it to Megan.

The question made Megan feel as she was trapped in a small area with no oxygen, and in a heartbeat, she began to hyperventilate. She grabbed Drakes arm tightly as she was gasping for air. Josh rubbed her back and spoke to her gently.

"It's okay, Megs, just breathe. Relax"

She gave Josh a panicked look, showing him how those words didn't exactly help her much right now. She started moving her head back and forth with every breath. Her throat was aching as it barely let her have any air. Drake remembered what he used to do when Megan lost her breath when they were little. He had a quick flashback where Megan was 7 years old and got hit by a football in her chest and she started panicking, thinking she would die from choking. He got off the bench and kneeled in front of her again. He took both her hands in his and waved his other hand in front of his face.

"Megan, look at me. Look at me." He said. She had a horrified look on her face when she made direct eye contact with her older brother.

"Good. Now breathe exactly like I do." He said as he waved his hand in front of his face again. "Look at me, Megan." He repeated. He started showing her how to breathe like she was an alien, first setting foot on this planet.

"Like this, Megan." He said and took deep breaths as he stared at her intensely.

She stared copying Drakes breathing; they were doing it in the same pace, kind of like they were playing music together.

"There you go, just like that, Megs." He said and continued. She nodded, but she still had that panicked look in her eyes. "You're okay, your color's coming back, it's okay." He told her soothingly. Josh watched the entire scene play out before him. He realized just how close Drake and Megan really were. They had grown up together; Megan had known Drake since the day she was born. He had never had a sibling until his dad married Audrey, he didn't know what it was like until then.

"He made me put it on him." She said so quietly that they barely heard her. "I helped him." She said and covered her face with her hands and sobbed. "It's not your fault." Her brothers said at the same time while hugging her. They both had the same feeling; they both felt that lump in their throats, they both had that sick feeling in their stomachs.

"I just want to go home." Megan said.

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><p>Audrey and Walter weren't home yet, so Josh decided that he should call them. They all needed their parents right now. Drake and Josh were in college and adults, technically even Megan was, but somehow they all really needed someone to help them out.<p>

Drake took Megans hand and went into the upstairs bathroom, where he would help her clean up. He went to her room and brought her pajamas. He went down to Josh while she was changing.

"What did they say?" he asked, feeling a bit guilty for not being the one to make that call.

"They are at the Schneiders, they are on their way." Josh responded. He looked different, he almost looked paler, and suddenly he seemed exhausted.

"Josh, are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just…telling them what happened was horrible." He said and shook his head. He looked over at Drake.

"I talked to dad, he probably didn't say anything in front of the Schneiders. He's probably telling mom as we speak." Josh's voice was shaking, he tried to put himself in Walter and Audreys shoes for a moment. _No, that was impossible._

"They'll be here in about an hour." He said and went in to the kitchen.

Drake brought the first aid kit to the bathroom. Megan had changed into pink pajama pants, and a black t-shirt. Drake started gently wiping of some blood on her face, he was careful not to hurt her. Just then, Josh came in with some ice.

"Hold this on your eye, Megs." He said and held out the ice to her. She did as she was told, and when she brought up her left hand to hold it, both her brothers looked at her bruised wrist. It was like being kicked in the gut, but worse.

"Okay, Megan. I need you to tell me where it hurts." Drake said after he wiped off some tears from Megans face with his thumb.

"Does your head hurt?" he asked her. Megan nodded.

"Tell me all the places that hurt okay?" he added, wanting Megan to actually speak.

"My head, my wrists, shoulders, and my stomach." She said really fast. She was afraid that if she spoke, she was going to start crying again. There was another place that hurt, but Megan was too embarrassed to say it.

Josh took a paper cloth and wet it with cold water. He lightly pressed it against one of her wrists.

"Does that feel better?" he asked, hoping she would say yes.

"Yeah."

Josh nodded and did the same thing to her other wrist. "Okay." He said.

"I'm just going to see how your stomach looks." Drake said as he slowly lifted up her shirt a little. She tensed at that, but quickly remembered it was just Drake. He stopped and looked at her, and when she nodded, he proceeded. Her stomach was a little red and bruised, but it was nothing compared to how her left hip looked. "God." He said.

Megan held her hand over her hip, like it would help take the pain away.

Josh got up and gathered her clothes that were sprawled over the bathroom floor. Her black jeans had been too dark to show it, but when he got a glimpse of their grey inside, he gasped. He held them out to Drake and Megan and looked at them both.

"You sure nothing else hurts, Megs?" he _tried_ to say calmly, but his voice failed him.

Drake looked in horror at the blood on the inside of her jeans. _She was too embarrassed to tell them._ Drake started visibly shaking. He had held himself together until now.

"Damn it!" he let out. Megan looked at him with new tears forming in her eyes.

Drake collected himself, Megan was still in the room and she needed him.

"You can tell us, Megan." He said after a while. Megan couldn't bring herself to say anything. She didn't even know how to say it. She just looked at Drake with wide eyes.

"Does it hurt where it happened?" Drake asked her, seeing how uncomfortable she was.

He was too, and he didn't really know what words to use. He tried to go around it as much as he could, and it seemed to help Megan as well.

"Yeah, it hurts a lot." Megan said, blinking frequently to keep the tears from falling.

"I'll be right back." Drake responded and got out of the room.

"It's okay Megan, don't worry about it." Josh said after Drake had left. "We'll just get you checked out just in case. You know, to make sure."

Drake came back inside with a pair of his old, grey sweatpants. He handed them to Megan. She took them and got lost in her memories when she saw the red print on one of the legs. "Zero Gravity." She rubbed the print with her thumb as she nodded to them both. Drake gave her a small smile, then he handed her that big comfy, black sweatshirt of his that she loved.

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><p>Once at the hospital, Drake and Josh were not allowed to be with Megan during her examination. They waited patiently, although it was hard just sitting around. Drake told Josh that he would call their parents this time, to let them know what was going on. He had wanted to talk to Walter, he figured that Walter would be the more collected of the two, but he ended up calling his moms cellphone. Walter was probably the one driving anyway.<p>

"Yes, mom. Yeah. Yes. A little better. We went to the hospital. Yeah, to make sure. I know , mom. Okay, see you soon." _God that was hard._ His voice cracked when he spoke to her, he now understood what Josh was telling him earlier. His mom's sad voice had almost made him have an emotional breakdown.

Megans examination didn't take long. She didn't have any permanent injuries, she would be okay. But once the medical business was taken care of, there was still a huge thing left hanging over Megan like a dark cloud. She knew that coming to a hospital claiming you have been raped would start a series of chaos. She would have to answer to the police, and that was something she dreaded. If it wasn't for Drake and Josh, she probably wouldn't have come to the hospital in the first place. _"If you tell anyone, I'll kill you."_ She hadn't forgot about those words. How long is the sentence for rape? How long would it be until he got out again? Maybe they won't even do anything to him. Maybe he would convince them that she agreed to it… She was starting to have second thoughts about everything. She should have handled things differently. She didn't want to do this. There was a small part of her that still cared for Nick, how stupid that might sound. A part that didn't want him to get in trouble. God, how she hated that stupid part of her, how she hated herself. She was going to push those thoughts about him away though. She decided that tonight. She was never ever going to be so blind to a lie again.

Her thoughts were interrupted as her entire family stepped in to the room. Audrey was crying loudly as she ran over to Megan.

"Oh my god! My little girl!" she cried into Megans shoulder. To be honest, this only made her feel worse. She had caused her own mother to feel this way. She could see Walter standing next to Josh, he looked unsure of what to do with himself. They made eye contact and she could see the tears in his eyes. He walked over to her and stroke her hair.

"It's going to be okay." He whispered. Both her parents were holding on to her for dear life, and it made her feel uncomfortable. She didn't want to cry in front of them. She couldn't, it would only make everything much worse. She really just wanted them to leave so she could deal with everything on her own, but of course she couldn't say that.

"What happened, Megan? How could he do this to you?" Audrey cried out. Her eyes were so swollen she could hardly see anything at all. Drake and Josh looked at their mom in shock. Did she really just say that? Drake looked over at Megan with concern. Her lips were trembling and she was blinking five times a second, she always did that when she didn't want to cry.

"Maybe we should leave Megan alone for a minute and let her get dressed." Drake said.

Megan wanted to hug him forever for saying that and she even gave him a little smile. They understood each other without even speaking.

"We can't leave her all alone, Drake." Audrey said as if she was stating the obvious.

Drake rolled his eyes at her; he wished that she could just understand.

"Mom, he's right, we'll wait for you outside, Megan." Josh said and gave her a warm look and then he and Drake started going for the door.

"You coming?" he said to his parents as they just stood there unable to move.

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><p>Megan had never been more relieved to be left alone. She was grateful for the way Drake and Josh handled things, it was like they had really grown up in the last few hours. She took off her hospital gown and stopped for a moment to take a look at her bruises. Somehow, they were even bigger now. She grabbed Drakes grey sweatpants and pulled them on, and then felt the pain in her shoulders as she pulled her t-shirt over her head. She closed the zipper to the black sweatshirt all the way and made her way out of the room.<p>

"I'll ride with Drake and Josh." She said as she moved past her family in the halls. None of them said anything. Walter nodded to his sons, and put his arm around Audrey, who didn't understand Megans actions at all. While in the car, she put the hoodie over her head, and pulled out the arms so that her hands were being covered almost completely. She felt somewhat warm and safe like this, and she leaned her head on the car window in a car that was pleasantly quiet. She had already told the police who did what to her, they wanted to make sure that he wouldn't hide or try to convince a friend to be his alibi.

Tomorrow, she would have to deal with the whole thing on a bigger level though, and even the thought of it was making her feel sick.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey thanks for reading and reviewing!**

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><p>It was hard enough keeping her own emotions in check, but having to take others into consideration was unbearable. She wished that she could just tell people what she wanted, and they would understand and let her have it. People always try to see different meaning in things. If she says she's okay, does that mean that she is not okay? If she says that she wants to be alone, does that mean that she wants company?<p>

Not only was her family walking on eggshells around her, but she was doing the same to them. She wanted more than anything to be left alone, to find peace from their concern. She couldn't pretend like she was the happiest girl on earth, because that would be too obvious, no, she needed to find a level of happiness where they wouldn't suspect anything. It hurt her to see Drake going through so much guilt, especially when she knew that it was nowhere near his fault. She knew exactly who was to blame, her and Nick.

Nick for deceiving her, hurting her, and taking her virginity with force. Her for being so god damn stupid. She had seen girls on TV who were staying with their abusive boyfriends and always looked down on them, but she never saw Nick as one of those boyfriends. She was such an idiot.

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><p>She couldn't take it anymore, she decided to request for some alone time. She actually didn't care about what her family thought about it, she wasn't asking for their permission. Her room was her own place, a place where she was the boss of things. She grabbed a little book from her desk, she made an invisible smile when she saw that it was unused. It was black and thick; it was perfect.<p>

"_I hate it. I hate it so much. I HATE HIM. I hate my life. I hate being so stupid."_

It felt good to write it down, it felt good to see the words, it felt good to realize how bad everything was.

"_I wish I had never met him, and then I think about all the good times we shared, and I wouldn't want to take them back. That's so stupid, and I know it._ _Everything in my life is ruined, I don't want to live this life anymore. I want to die. I wish I would've refused to put on the condom, because then maybe he would've killed me. I don't know if I could do it myself, I'm too scared. Maybe if I stop being scared, then I could end all of this. When people said that something emotionally hurts, I didn't think that it actually does hurt. It's a raw, unbearable pain. I hate life so fucking much."_

She read her words and almost laughed at how random everything was, like a child wrote it. The more she wrote, the harder she pressed down the pencil; the darker the writing became. She thought for a moment of how symbolic that was, until she tucked the book under her mattress, lying in her bed for a while. It was already dark out, and the only time she had come out of her room was when she came downstairs to talk to a police officer who explained how the whole thing with Nick and the police would play out. She would have to be at the station tomorrow morning for questioning. She had barely said a word to her parents, and she could see that they were on edge about talking to her. Josh however, he made sure to let her know what was going on in Drakes head. Why did Drake have to make things worse by feeling bad?

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><p>When someone sat down on her bed, she knew it was Drake without even looking. Drake had watched her constantly, trying to see her reaction to everything that was said to her.<p>

Something about the way Drake was acting made it impossible to be mad at him. After all, if it weren't for him she would've felt more alone than anyone in the world. The least she could do was take away his guilt, even if it meant faking a strength she didn't have.

"I want to know how you are doing, Megs." He said with a soft, calm voice. She could tell he was tired.

"Fine, I guess." She answered. It was all about that balance of being fine but not too fine, or he would notice.

"I think I'll be okay with time." She said and sighed. She turned her back against him and hugged her pillow as she lay down on her bed, still wearing his comfy clothes. She could practically see him smiling.

"That's my girl." He said and rubbed her back. "You're strong, Megan, hang in there." He added. The circles he made with his hand were warm and comforting. Megan could feel tears sting in her eyes as he said that. He really had no idea how weak she was.

"You too, Drake. I seriously want you to stop feeling guilty, it bugs me."

Drake looked down for a second, he knew what she meant by that.

"Yeah, I will." He said and nodded even though he knew she wouldn't see it.

"I mean it. Don't say you will just to make me happy, don't fake it." Megan said and cursed herself for letting her voice get affected by unshed tears. Drake stopped his hand for a moment and wrinkled his eyebrows.

"What do you mean fake it?" Drake asked, and continued rubbing her back.

"Oh, nothing, just that, just that you sincerely stop feeling guilty, not just because I want you to." Megan responded. She was happy to know that Drake hadn't noticed the tears in her voice.

"Yeah, I will. You too, okay?"

"Yeah." She said with a firm voice. With that, Drake left and Megan felt as if she was finally able to be alone with her emotions. To finally be able to feel them.

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><p>The night came quicker than she had thought. It was impossible to sleep, especially on an empty stomach. She hadn't been able to eat anything, but luckily mom wasn't bugging her about it. Megan rolled over on her stomach and thought for a moment how strange it was that a person could be so incredibly tired, and still be so unable to sleep. It was so much against logic. Everything was against logic, really.<p>

She grabbed her book from under the mattress and the same pen that she used earlier today. It felt as if the pencil had been tainted with dark emotions, and could now only be used for the purpose of writing in this book.

"_I can't sleep, I mean I wasn't expecting too but still. I didn't think the night would be this hard. All day I wanted to be alone, and all I want right now is to be with someone."_

"With Nick." Megan thought before she stopped herself from writing it down. She couldn't write that, it was wrong on so many levels.

"_I really hate Nick, because if I'm being completely honest with myself, I want to talk to him. But I hate him almost as much as I hate myself. I wish I could die. Actually, I wish I could go to sleep, which is the same as dying but with a big difference. When you are sleeping you eventually have to wake up and be alive in this fucking world again. If you die, you don't have to anymore, you could sleep forever."_

Megan read what she had just written. God it was so lame. She tucked the book away again, and got out of bed, feeling cold and warm at the same time. How was that even possible? Maybe it's because of the shorts she used as pajamas. The pain was eating away at her from the inside; she just wanted it to stop for a second. She grabbed her keys and went back to her bed. She looked down at her knees, and carefully pushed the house key to her knee, wincing at the pain. She refused to cut herself; that is what crazy people do when they want to relieve stress or pain. She wondered for a moment if it actually helps them before she snapped back to reality. Megan started beating herself with the key instead, causing both bruises and little cuts. It felt nice, it felt like she had accomplished something for the first time in a while. _Maybe this is how cutters feel like._

She grabbed the book once again.

"_I feel a little better now. It's like all the craziness in my head stopped for a while. My head has been so messy, I can barely think clearly."_

* * *

><p>"Do you think she's okay?" Josh said still lying in bed. It was an early Saturday morning, but he knew Drake was awake.<p>

"No." Drakes voice was muffled by his pillow. He rolled over to his back.

"But she will be." He said while looking in the ceiling. He got out of bed and went downstairs. On the kitchen table was a note from mom and Walter.

"Be back in an hour, Megans appointment is at 9."

Drake held the paper in his right hand as he read it again. "Appointment." Like she was going to the dentist. He instinctively glanced at the watch and was happy to see that they would be back in time to take Megan to the station. He put down the note and went up to Megans room to find her sleeping. Or as he would notice- fake sleeping.

"Megs, I know you're awake." He said and walked beside her. She sat up and groggily rubbed her eyes. Her eyes had dark circles below them, and she was looking paler than usual.

"Are you okay?" he asked to be sure.

"Yup." She responded a bit harshly. She was actually feeling like a zombie.

"What do you say I make us some breakfast and we'll eat together downstairs?" he said while walking over to her window, opening her curtains to allow sunlight in the room.

Megans eyes hurt from the sudden light, and she rubbed them once again.

"Sure, I'll be down in a minute." She said.

Drake went downstairs again, feeling slightly better because of the fact that Megan was coming out of her room.

Megan was feeling even worse than yesterday if that was even possible. It was like someone had taken all bad emotions and put them in a blender, making a smoothie, which she swallowed every single drop from. She went to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked bad, but she didn't look half as bad as she was feeling. She honestly wished she could have a heart attack right at the spot.

"Hey Megan, breakfast is ready!" Drake yelled from the stairs. There was no sound of Megan though and he yelled again, a little louder this time. Drake sighed at the thought of his sister getting back to bed, ignoring the world. He went up the stairs and almost jogged in to her room, not sure of what to do if she was sleeping. When he couldn't find her there, he heard a sound coming from the bathroom. He went over and put his ear to the door, listening intensively. The sound of Megan crying sent shiver down his spine. The sound of it was enough to make his heart feel completely broken. All he managed to do was stand there and listen to her weak sounds. It was the saddest sound he had ever heard in his entire life.


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you very much for the reviews! I really appreciate it. And yes, I'll gladly take more requests. The earthquake story seems great, I'll start on it as soon as this one is done! :)**

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><p>She didn't really know why she was crying all of a sudden. She hadn't planned it, it was just the pressure building up inside of her, and it had to come out one way or another. She had thought about the way Nick had used her, he had put shame all over her. He had his way with her. She was just some weak girl, getting raped by a guy. The realization of being so weak was a bit overwhelming, she had always been tough and smart. She had always been a girl with a good head between her shoulders. He had been inside of her, he had gotten pleasure out of her body. She almost felt like throwing up at these thoughts. Then it sort of hit her; Drake was downstairs making breakfast. She had been in the bathroom for a long time, and she didn't know what to do next. He would see her swollen eyes and know that she had been crying; everything would be ruined. She opened the door as quiet as she could, and sneaked into her bedroom and closed the door. On her bed was a plate with two pieces of bread, a jar of strawberry jam, a glass with orange juice, and two halves of kiwi with a tea spoon between them. She mentally hugged her brother, and made her way to the bed, pulling the covers over her body.<p>

"_I'm like a whore, without the getting paid part."_

She read her words over and over and shook her head. They were actually true. She was a disgusting human being.

"_Dear diary, two days ago I helped a guy rape me."_

She smiled sarcastically. It was true, wasn't it? She felt the emptiness inside her go away. She felt her cheeks getting warm with anger.

"_Why the FUCK didn't I do something to stop him?" _

Each question mark got darker and darker. The last one cut through the paper.

She continued making question marks on her right thigh, making her skin go white before returning to its normal color. She held the pencil so hard it almost made her hand cramp. She let go if it, and proceeded to punch her own thigh, feeling satisfied when it turned to an irritated red color.

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><p>Mom and Walter were saying pointless words all the way over to the police station.<p>

"Don't worry, Megan." "It's okay, Megan." "Just tell them the truth, they'll catch him."

She entered a small office that looked as grey and boring as this day was.

"Miss Parker, we'd like you to explain the entire incident that happened last Friday night." A small, bald officer said and turned to Megan.

She shrugged, and shifted in her seat. This was beyond uncomfortable.

"I was at his house, an-"

The officer cut her off, "Who's house, miss Parker?"

"Nick Rivers." She said a bit annoyed. She knew that the officer already knew that.

"We were in his room, and he wanted us to, he…he wanted to… have sex." She said nervously. She didn't dare to look at mom or Walter.

"I told him I didn't want to, but he wouldn't take no for an answer." Her voice was shaking and she hated it. She hated that mom grabbed her hand like she was some wimp. She didn't remove her hand though, she didn't want to make things worse.

"So, Mr. Rivers was your boyfriend?"

"Yeah, he was. But I told him that if he continued to pressure me we were done." Megan said and was glad to hear her own voice being a tiny bit more confident. She came up with a plan. She would tell the whole story like it belonged to someone else, not her.

"He hit me and wouldn't let me go." She added. The officer placed his left ankle on his right knee, and his left hand under his chin.

"Miss Parker, can you remember what you were wearing on Friday night?"

Audrey let go of Megans hand and raised her finger at the officer.

"What has that got to do with anything?" she said in an angry manner.

"Just wondering, ma'am." He said without hesitation. Megan snorted and looked angrily at the officer. Like she could actually forget what she was wearing, what her hair looked like, what Nick was wearing, what his room looked like, what it smelled like.

"I was wearing a white tank top under a brown cardigan, and black jeans." She said.

"I see, well your bruises definitely show signs of assault, but Mr. Rivers is saying that you gave your consent."

They all looked wide-eyed at the officer. He had talked to Nick before her? Who's side was he on?

"This is absurd! That little bastard is lying and you are actually believing him? Why did you bring us down here? To see if Megan is lying? To see how her story matches up to his?" Walter snapped. He stood up, looking huge compared to the officer who was still sitting in his chair.

"Mr. Nichols, we are only trying to figure out what happened Friday night, we have to take Mr. Rivers into consideration also. The two of them are the only ones who were there, it's his word against hers. But as I said, her bruises are definitely signs of assault."

"Were done here! Walter yelled and signaled for his wife and daughter to come with him.

The car ride home was like the car ride a little while ago but a little more intense.

"They wont get away with this, Megan." "That little bastard is going to confess, Megan." "Let's just go home and get some rest, we'll deal with this later."

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><p>"<em>Even the cops think I wanted it to happen. Even they think I'm weak, so weak that they question whether it really happened or not. Does this mean that Nick will get away with it?"<em>

Megan hid the book once again and lay on her bed. She was feeling tired in a weird way. She hadn't really been doing anything; she had just been in bed all the time, yet she had no energy to do anything. It was like she was getting even more tired by resting.

A knock on her door.

"Hey Megs, can I get you anything?" Josh's voice was soft and humble.

Megan squinted her eyes when light came in from the hall.

"No, I'm good." She said tiredly.

Josh didn't say anything else, he just shut the door gently and walked away.

He went downstairs to where mom and dad were watching TV.

"How'd it go with Megan today?" he asked as he sat on the sofa.

"Well, not great." Walter said while lowering the volume on the TV.

Audrey continued. "The officer said that Nick claims that he didn't rape Megan."

She felt herself getting angrier after she had said her words.

"Oh my god. But what does that mean? What's going to happen to Nick now?" Josh asked with a serious look on his face.

Audrey stood up, and straightened her shirt.

"The school is keeping him suspended for a while, but other than that they don't know yet." She said and went in to the kitchen.

Josh sat in silence and was startled when Walter raised the volume on the TV again.

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><p>School wasn't exactly where she wanted to be, but home was no paradise either.<p>

It wasn't easy convincing mom and Walter that she was fine, that she could handle a few hours of sitting in classrooms learning about random stuff. Drake had driven her there, because that was what Megan wanted.

"Megan, wait." He said as she was about to open the door. She turned around and looked her brother in the eye.

"Are you _sure _you are up for school?" he said and looked for any signs that she wasn't felling well.

"Come on, not you too…" Megan said and sighed. Drake gave her a small smile.

"Sorry, just checking." He said and put his hands on the wheel. When she was out of the car he looked to his right.

"Don't hesitate to call."

No one had asked her about Nick yet, she was starting to think that nobody knew about it. Megan was pressing her books to her chest with her left arm while opening her locker.

"Hey, I hear Nick got suspended! What's that all about?"

Megan closed the locker to see Adrianne in front of her. The blonde girl had a shocked expression on her face.

"Oh my god Megan! What happened to your eye!" she said referring to Megans black eye. Megan opened her locker again and stuffed the books inside.

"Josh and I were playing ping pong, the ball hit me in the eye." She said and forced a smile. Adrianne laughed loudly and Megan assumed she pictured the incident in her mind.

"You're so clumsy." She said and continued laughing. Luckily she forgot all about her question about Nick. Megan cursed herself for not coming up with a cover story. _Yeah, she really was clumsy._

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><p>"How was school, Megan?" Audrey said with a concerned voice. <em>An annoying voice.<em>

"Fine." _Like hell._

"Did anyone ask about Nick?"

"No."_ Yes, of course?_

"Did the teachers give you a hard time?"

"No, mom." _Besides being mad at me for not paying attention?_

"You going tomorrow too?"

"Sure." _I'd rather die._

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><p>"<em>I hate mom, she is so ignorant. Everyone is. I want to kill every single person who smiles or laughs. What is there to be happy about?"<em>

Drake had been acting a little weird towards her lately, and she found it odd. She had been pretending to be happy while she was with him, she didn't understand why he wouldn't give it a rest. She decided it was time to step it up a notch.

"Wanna play some hoops?" she said after entering Drake and Josh's room.

They both looked at her surprised to see her out of her room.

"Oh, yeah, um, sure!" Drake said and put his guitar away.

"Yeah, we haven't played for such a long time!" Josh said with a smile. It was weird to think that he and Drake had been on a trip for so long.

She had to admit that playing basketball with her brothers was somewhat fun. To play basketball meant that her only concern for an hour was how to get a ball in a hoop. It also meant watching Josh getting hit in the face multiple times which is always fun. However, she was still getting exhausted by faking all that energy. She felt like just getting back to bed, shutting the door, shutting the world out.

"Megan seems a little better." Josh said while checking his e-mails.

Drake continued to absently stroke his guitar, making soft sounds coming out of it.

"I guess."

Josh closed his laptop and went to sit on the edge of the platform below Drakes bed.

"What, you don't think she seems just a tiny bit better now than she did last Friday night?" he said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Yeah, you're right." Was Drakes response.

"You're not still feeling guilty are you?"

Drake stroke his guitar with his fingers, trying to get some of the dust between the strings.

"A little, but I'm working on it don't worry. I realize it doesn't make things better."

"It'll be alright." Josh said and hoped more than anything that he was right.

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><p>She had only talked to the police a few more times, giving statements and such. She had never thought that it all would take so much time. She was pretty much saying the same things over and over and couldn't understand what was so complicated for them to understand. Megan couldn't help but wonder what Nick was telling them…or if they believed him.<p>

It was a Thursday. She had somehow managed to get through Monday, Tuesday, _and_ Wednesday. She should be able to pull this of as well. She told people that she didn't know why Nick was suspended, that he was in trouble for something and his parents wouldn't let him talk to anyone.

When she entered school that Thursday though, everyone stared.


	10. Chapter 10

**Thanks for reading and reviewing! I looove it when you do!**

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><p>Megan thought for a second. Is this normal? Maybe people stare at her all the time, maybe she just hasn't noticed it until now. There was something really strange about it though. Some were whispering, some were giggling, some were just staring at her with a blank expression, and if she wasn't mistaking-some even looked angry. With steps that displayed insecurity, Megan made her way to her locker. A locker that didn't look like it used to. She stood in shock as she watched what someone had done to it. Someone had used their keys to write "whore" on it. <em>People knew.<em> She struggled to hold the tears back, and tried to ignore the locker for now. Barely remembering her locker combination, she opened it and took a deep breath, feeling everyone's eyes on her.

"Slut."

Megan jumped and turned around to see 2 boys and a girl in her class. She didn't have time to respond until one of the guys walked closer towards her.

"You hate the guy that much? Why would you do that to him?" the dark blonde guy said while squinting his eyes like he was trying to solve some big math problem.

Megan watched him and the others. The blonde girl stood with her weight on her left hip, twisting her hair with her left hand. She looked at Megan like she was some filthy animal.

"What?" Megan responded, not sure of what he was talking about.

"Oh! I get it! She's playing dumb now! Yeah, she's _always_ the victim, you guys!" the girl laughed out sarcastically and made a dumb face. Megan would have laughed out loud at how stupid the girl looked if she wasn't so occupied with not strangling her.

"You're the victim of being a bitch." Megan said and walked away.

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><p>"I want you all to read individually. No talking, only reading."<p>

As the other kids sighed and started opening their books, Megan sat still for a moment. She stared at a dot on the wall as she thought about what had just happened. How did people even hear about it, who told them?

"Miss Parker!"

Megan jumped and tried to focus her eyes on the english teacher that was looking at her with her angry face.

"Are you aware of anything happening in this classroom or are you too busy looking at that white wall?" she said nonchalantly.

"Sorry, Mrs. Hayfer." Megan said and got ready to read her book. She could hear people trying to hold back laughs, making those gurgling sounds with their throats while holding their hands over their mouths.

"What's so funny?" Megan sad angrily and a second later she wondered why she even said that in the first place. Nobody responded and Mrs. Hayfer gave her a questioning look.

"I was just wondering how you even dared to come to school after setting Nick up like that, that's brave girl!"

Megan turned around and saw Nick's friend smiling, looking more stupid than the blonde girl from earlier.

"What's that?" Megan responded and looked at the boy, Robert, with confidence.

"From what I hear, you gave it _all_ to him, then blamed him for…"taking" it." He said and made a quotation mark when he said taking. Megan looked at who was sitting next to Robert. A mix of emotions exploded inside of her.

"Robert, you're a snake!" she said and got out of her chair.

"Miss Parker, please sit down."

Mrs. Hayfers voice was like hearing mom telling her to put her feet off the table. It was just ignorable. Kind of like Megans pleading words were to Nick not too long ago.

"And you!" she almost yelled and moved closer to the table where Robert and Nick were sitting. He looked up at her, and he almost looked ashamed.

"What did you tell them!" she yelled. Everyone in the classroom stared at Megan like she was a ghost. She felt her cheeks getting red with anger.

"I said, what did you tell them!" she asked furiously. Nick didn't respond, he didn't even offer any facial expressions. It was like he didn't understand the language she was speaking.

"What the fuck did you tell them, Nick!" she yelled and immediately felt weird about using his name.

"Miss Parker!" Mrs. Hayfer shouted and walked towards Megan and grabbed her arm.

"Sit. Down." she said through her teeth. Megan jerked her arm around until she was free from the woman's hard grip. She started walking out the door and could hear Mrs. Hayfer once again.

"Sit down!"

"No!" Megan yelled and waved her arm behind her. She opened the door and shut it hard behind her, leaving everybody speechless.

She was getting emotional and felt herself breathing loudly as she made her way to the girls bathroom. She was relieved to see that she was alone in there. It meant that she was aloud to cry.

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><p>When she got home, she hoped that no one would be there. Yet, there she was face to face with her mom right after taking the first step in the house.<p>

"My last class got cancelled so I walked home." She said before Audrey had the chance to say anything.

"Why didn't you call? I could've picked you up, honey."

"I didn't want to."

"Is everything okay?"

"It was until you started harassing me." Megan answered in an angsty tone.

"What? Megan?"

Megan didn't respond, she just walked away. When she was halfway to the stairs she turned around.

"No." she said.

"No what?" Audrey asked, wondering if she was referring to her question.

"You're thinking about whether or not you should follow me, the answer is no."

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><p>"<em>If school was bad before, it's going to be hell from now on. I don't even know what to do. I want to call in sick tomorrow, I really feel like I can't go there. Everytime the phone rings I'm scared it's a teacher calling to tell mom I left school today. I hate-"<em>

"What are you writing?" Drakes voice startled Megan and she closed the book faster than lightning.

"Nothing." Megan responded annoyingly. When Drake just stood there without saying anything she got even more annoyed.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing, just checking in with you." He said with a light voice. "How was school?"

"I hate Mrs. Hayfer."

"Well of course you do, you're a Parker. Don't worry, she probably hates you more than you hate her." He teased.

"I know."

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><p>Megan went to the bathroom, just to see the pathetic reflection of herself in the mirror. A razor had never looked so intriguing to her as it did just now. She kind of wanted to try it out, to see what it feels like. To look at the blood, to look at the wound. To watch it heal everyday. <em>To watch it's progress.<em> The wounds inside of her didn't seem to make any. She grabbed the razor in her right hand, and pressed it lightly against her left knee. She didn't want to cut her wrists, that would be too visible. Besides, she wasn't even "cutting", she was just experimenting. She was just trying the razor out to see if it actually worked like in the movies. She made a small cut, watching it bleed lightly. She put her finger on it and played around for a while, making the cut look bigger than it actually was. As she was cleaning it, taking care of it like she wanted to take care of her _real_ wounds, she smiled without even realizing it.

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><p>"Megs, come play basketball with us." Josh said excitedly. It was nice seeing her play, and he hoped to bring out that side of her more.<p>

"I'm good" she said and grabbed a mocha cola from the fridge.

"Come oooon." He continued.

"Josh, I said no. Is that hard for you to understand or something?" Both Drake and josh stopped what they were doing and looked at Megan funny. There was no hint of teasing or playing in her tone. On second thought, she actually looked really upset.

"What's wrong, Megan?" josh asked her.

"Nothing!" she yelled back. Everything about her was screaming "everything".

"Woah, relax I just asked."

"Why don't you go bother someone else with your questions?"

"Megan, stop it. Now tell us what happened." Drake said and looked at her.

Megan opened her mouth to answer but Drake cut her off.

"And don't you dare say nothing, you're telling us. Now."

She felt the pressure build up, it was really just too much to handle. Tears started pouring out of her eyes.

"It's nothing!" she yelled back. Drake started walking to his little sister, standing really close to her.

"Megan, you are telling me right now. Did someone do something to you?"

"No!" she yelled at him and began to turn around but Drake grabbed her and turned her back. "Stop it!" she yelled out.

"No, Megan!" he yelled back at her and looked at her intensively. Megan felt trapped, there was no way Drake was backing down. She started hitting his arm with her fist and tried to get away but he kept on holding on and he kept on asking her. She started crying louder as she pounded on his chest. There was no coordination in her punches, she was basically flopping her arms all over the place. Drake hugged her until she finally stopped, feeling exhausted but also a bit relieved. It wasn't that bad feeling of being tired like when she hangs out in her room all day, it was a good-tired.

"He's back in school." She cried. "And he told everyone I lied."


	11. Chapter 11

**Thank for reading and reviewing! :) btw, in my last chapter the words got jumbled together at some places, i dont know how it happened but something went wrong when i uploaded it, so sorry about any confusion! Anyway, here's the next chapter!**

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><p>"I want to start boxing."<p>

Walter and Audrey looked up at Megan who stood bent over the couch behind them. Walter chuckled and looked from her to his wife, then back to Megan.

"Where is this coming from all of a sudden?"

"I just want to. I'd like to start a sport, I narrowed it down to boxing."

They were all still for a moment, a small smile started forming on Audreys lips.

"Of course you can, honey. I think it'll do you some good!"

Audrey had no idea where Megan got the idea to start boxing all of a sudden, but she was filled with joy to see her putting herself out there again, actually living.

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><p>"<em>I took Drakes advice and asked mom and dad if I could start boxing and they agreed. Apparently I would feel better if I got the chance to hit things? When Drake told me that punching bags and stuff would help me blow of some steam and keep me from wanting to even hurt myself I laughed at him. Me? Hurting myself? Was he stupid? But I couldn't help but think about what I did to my knee, and how nice it felt. He was right."<em>

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><p>The next morning Megan thought about what the day would turn out like. Getting out of bed was one of the biggest struggles that she had ever experienced. The warm, cuddly feeling went away quickly as she got up to the cold surroundings. A whole day until she gets to sleep again…she just couldn't take it. She wrote a quick note and went back to bed.<p>

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><p>Drake felt like he had gotten through to his sister for the first time in a while. He took the news about Nick being back in school worse when he was alone then he did when he was with Megan. He wasn't gonna lie-he was <em>pissed.<em> He went to his sister room and ehen he knocked on her door, there was no answer. When he opened it, he saw his sister curled up under the covers in her dark room. She looked really tired, like she could use about 30 hours of sleep. He picked up the note on the table next to her bed and read it out loud, hoping she would hear him and react in some way.

"Not going to school today, feeling sick."

"Megan, you're going to school, you can't avoid all of this." He couldn't help but feel sorry for her though. He couldn't even imagine what school must be like. When he was in high school, he would look for the smallest reasons to call in sick. He of all people should understand.

"I'm tired, Drake." Megan said with a very fragile voice.

"I know, I'm sorry." He sat on the bed. "You get some rest, I'll wake you up at noon and we'll go somewhere. That or you go to school."

"Okay." She answered, and Drake could almost hear her go to sleep half a second later. He did his best not to make any noise at all when he exited the room.

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><p>She was still sleepy, and it was evident that she would much rather stay in bed than to be in the car with him, but Drake kept driving. All the way to the gym.<p>

"No, not today!" she said when she realized where they were going.

"I'm not ready yet!" She stated loud and clear.

"You'll never be ready unless you just go for it." Drake said and parked the car. They sat there for what seemed like an eternity.

"What're you waiting for?" Drake said and turned towards his sister.

"I'll pick you up in an hour and a half." He said and tossed her a gym bag and waited for her to leave the car. Megan got up feeling confused and felt the anxiety rush over her. She didn't really feel like being amongst people. And what if the others were really good, she was just a beginner. Drake left as soon as she opened the door to the gym, and she was all alone.

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><p>"Blue Lions" it said on the wall with big blue letters when she got in. The gym didn't look particularly impressive, just a normal sized one. There were two boxing rings in the middle, and around them were people in training. A huge man came up to Megan as soon as he saw her enter the room.<p>

"You must be Megan Parker." He said and bent down to look her in the eyes. Megan felt incredibly relieved that he already knew she was coming.

"Yeah."

"I'm coach Jack Tyler. You go change and meet us out here, okay?"

"Yeah." Megan responded and turned around to see the locker room in front of her. While in there, she was hesitating on whether or not to actually go through with this. She felt a massive amount of butterflies in her stomach as she opened the door and started walking towards the other people who all seemed to be around her age. _What if she was to weak to be with them?_

"Everyone, this is Megan Parker. She'll be joining us today."

Megan felt everyone stare at her, but they all looked fairly nice. At least they didn't know anything about her, they wouldn't judge her. Coach Tyler looked more intimidating than he did a minute ago. His massive muscles looked like they were about to jump out of his black t-shirt. His black hair was short and everything about him expressed toughness. Megan offered a little uncomfortable smile before turning back to listen to the coach.

"Everyone grab a jumping rope and start warming up!" he yelled out and people around her did as they were told.

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><p>Drake was glad that he was alone to do this. He went inside and walked right up to the first police officer that he saw.<p>

"I want to talk to the police about Nick Rivers." He said angrily, but decided that from now on he would talk calmly so that he doesn't appear to be some mad lunatic seeking justice.

"What about him?" a skinny blonde man answered him.

"I'd like to know what he is doing back in school since he sexually assaulted a girl recently who goes to that very same school." It hurt Drake to say those words, but he forced himself to do it.

"Who are you?" was the little officers respond.

"Are you going to answer my question or not? Cause if you're not up for it, that's okay. I'll just ask everyone else around here." Drake said and started looking to his left and right. Compared to the officer, Drake looked big and strong.

"The investigation is still ongoing, but we can't keep him locked up. He's innocent until proven guilty." The cop answered like he had rehearsed that sentence nonstop. Drake snorted and shook his head.

"And what else do you need to "prove him guilty"? You have the girls statement, you saw her injuries, that from I hear around here, are typical rape injuries. I'm sure you have looked at her background-she's a good girl, she's good in school and she's never been in trouble. She's not lying." Drake kept talking even though the officer had a strange look on his face. Like he could barely believe that some random guy just walked in and started babbling like he was some lawyer.

"We are aware of that, but since Mr. Rivers has a different side of the story-"

"So what? You're waiting for him to confess? How many guilty people are in jail right now claiming that they are innocent? Of course he's denying it, it doesn't mean he didn't do it!" Drake almost yelled, and people in their surroundings started looking at him. This was exactly what he didn't come here for, he looked around at the people not feeling sure about what to do next, so he left as the officer asked him what his name was.

* * *

><p>"Harder! Megan, you can do better!"<p>

Megan cursed her bad luck. Since she was new, the group was now an odd number, meaning Megan had to train with the coach. He held the focus mitts strongly and seemed to yell at her more after every punch. She was exhausted, she was craving water like it was gold, and coach Tylers comments didn't make it any easier.

"Come on, Megan!" he yelled and she felt like strangling him to show that she can "do better". She put all of her energy in her right fist and got in a good punch.

"Good!" he yelled out. It was like lightning of satisfaction shooting through her. She wanted more of that feeling. She _needed _ it. She bent her knees a little more to get into a stronger position, and started pouring it all out. The sound that her boxing gloves made against his mitts was wonderfully strong. With every punch she let out a quick breath and with each one, the breath was louder than the last one. The coach didn't say anything. He didn't have time because of the frequency of the punches. He was concentrating on taking them. Megan kept punching even though she didn't have an ounce of energy left. Soon, the speed of her arms decreased and she felt like collapsing on the floor.

"That's great, Megan! _That _is how you box!" he yelled out when she stopped. He gave her a pat on the shoulder as she leaned forward, resting on her knees in front of her.

"I don't know what got into you, but it's something I want to see more of." He said and started gathering the group in the middle of the big room.

"Great job today everyone! I'll see you next time, until then-don't forget the rule."

He looked at Megan, understanding that she didn't know what he was talking about. He smiled and said " Never fight outside of this gym-it's not what blue lions do, its not our style. _It's not necessary to fight weak people_."

* * *

><p>Megan looked at herself in the mirror in the locker room. She was sweaty all over, her red t-shirt was more or less completely wet. Her face was shiny and red. Coach Tyler had given her a pair of black boxing shorts with a thick gold strap. She tried them on immediately. A perfect fit. They felt roomy and comfortable, and she couldn't wait to wear them tomorrow. For the first time in what felt like forever, she was excited about something.<p>

* * *

><p>Drake drove around until it was time to pick up Megan. He hoped that all had gone well. He felt bad for dragging her there without her knowing or having a chance to prepare, but he felt that a little tough love might be in order. He parked the car outside and a minute later he saw his sister walking towards it. She entered the car looking exhausted. But not in the same way as she did earlier this morning. She didn't look drained of all energy and well-being anymore. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something was different. Megan got in the car and slammed the back of her head at the seat and sighed.<p>

"That coach is CRAZY." She said with a hint of a smile forming on her lips. Drake laughed and started the car.

"So it went all right?"

"Yeah, I'll go tomorrow too. Hey, can we stop and get something to drink? Like a smoothie or something?" Megan asked with an alert voice. Now it was clear to drake; her body was tired, not her mind.

"Sure." He said happily. Things almost felt like normal again.

* * *

><p>"Today<em> we learned new combinations at training. Coach Tyler said that I am a quick learner. Tomorrow I'm gonna spar against Vicky. She beat me last weak but I think I'm actually better than her now. I had just started boxing then."<em>

Going to school was the hardest part of the day. Well, it is to a lot of kids, but to Megan it was different. It meant seeing Nick there, it meant being stared at by people she didn't even know. It meant hell. The whole investigation thing was really slow; it looked like they would have to take the case to court. Not really something to look forward to. School being over was the second best part of the day. The best part would be to go to the Blue Lions and box.

* * *

><p>Drake couldn't let go of it. How is it that Megan has to suffer bigger consequences than Nick does? He was on his way to pick up Megan when he saw him by the school. Actually, it was the exact same place where he and Josh found Megan. Nick was sitting on a bench, looking trough his backpack. Drake gripped the wheel tightly and parked the car. He approached the boy who was wearing a denim jacket. Nick looked up when he saw a shadow in front of him. A look of horror showed on his face.<p>

"Hey, Nick." Drake said with disgust.


	12. Chapter 12

**Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. I have been updating a lot slower lately because school has been very busy, sorry! I'll update tomorrow again, and that chapter will be the last. Here is the next one! :)**

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><p>Nick looked up at Drake with a fake confidence that almost made Drake laugh. Drake smiled lightly at how pathetic the boy in front of him was. He had never hated anyone in his life before. Sure, he would <em>say <em>that he hated someone in the heat of the moment, but he had never wanted to actually hurt them as much as he wanted to hurt Nick. The thought of him forcing himself in to Megan made him shiver and he wished to god that the thought had never come. He grabbed Nicks jacket and forced him up. Nick was visibly scared, but this time there was no amusement in Drakes eyes.

"First of all, I want you to admit what you did, you little piece of crap." He said angrily and looked Nick in the eyes. There were about a million things he wanted to say to him, to do to him; but somehow that was the first thing that came to mind. Nick didn't say anything, he still looked scared though. Too scared to move, to even try to get out of Drakes grip.

"What you did to her, it wasn't bad enough for you? You had to lie about it too? You had to run away like a little child!" Drake yelled and shook Nick violently.

"I didn't to anything."

* * *

><p>Josh was searching everywhere for Drake. Megan had stayed home from school today and he and Drake were going to hang out with her. He tried calling him but there was no answer, which was odd he thought. Drake always answers his phone.<p>

* * *

><p>Nicks words hit him like a punch in the gut. He could barely believe that he actually said that. For what purpose in the world could he be trying to go down <em>that<em> road? He obviously had to know Drake wouldn't believe him; he obviously had to know Drake would get really angry.

* * *

><p>"Have you seen Drake?"<p>

Megan closed the refrigerator and looked at Josh. "Nah." She said nonchalantly. She grabbed a soda and walked past Josh. "Later."

* * *

><p>Drake grabbed Nicks throat and pushed him towards the wall of the school. Nick winced at the pain when the back of his head hit the wall.<p>

"I told you to stop lying and to confess!" Drake yelled at him. Nick didn't seem to show any signs of fright though, he actually seemed a lot calmer.

"I didn't rape your sister." He said. Like he and Drake were buddies. He tried to get away but Drake hold him strongly. Drake had become quite the strong man nowadays. He could easily keep Nick in place.

"Oh, and what the hell did you do then?" Drake responded sarcastically.

"Nothing, come on. We were at my place, man!"

"So?" Drake said and looked confused.

"So it's not like I'm some creep that followed her to a dark alley and raped her right then and there. She was my girlfriend, we were at my house! I thought she wanted it!"

This angered Drake beyond measure.

"And she didn't tell you to stop? Huh!" He yelled and pushed Nick hard against the wall.

"Did she!" he yelled once more.

"Yes." Nick said and looked down.

"That means you fucking raped her, you stupid low life!"

Nick closes his eyes and shook his head.

"Come on, man! It's not like I hurt her!" Nick said, and a second later he was on the ground.

* * *

><p>After getting sent to voicemail countless times, Josh decided to send Drake a message.<p>

"Drake! It's Josh. Um, where are you? Look I'm kind of getting worried over here, you said you'd only go buy some sprinkles and it's been like 3 hours. I don't know if you met someone on the way or something but dude, just call me."

* * *

><p>"You didn't hurt her!" he said and punched Nick one more time. Blood was pouring out of his nose. "You didn't only hurt her last time, how about when you hit her before that, Nick? How does that feel?" he said and punched Nick once again.<p>

"How do you know about that!" Nick almost cried out as he tried to shield himself from Drake. Drake was like a completely different person. What he saw in front of himself wasn't just a boy who had done terrible things to his little sister who he loved dearly. He also saw a punching bag, meant for him to demolish.

"You raped her!" he screamed with a raspy voice and threw himself on Nicks stomach to be able to punch him better.

"I'm sorry!" he cried out in response, as he heard a woman's voice calling out Drakes name. Drake didn't hear anything though, it was like his hearing ability was out the window.

"Drake! Drake!" she yelled behind him and tried to pull him off of her student.

"Drake Parker!" she yelled in her usual "I-hate-Drake-voice", and that made him turn around with his bloody fist in the air. He looked at Mrs. Hayfer before he looked at Nick who was still holding his hands in front of his face, like he was worried that Drake would start hitting him again.

"Get off him." She said while breathing heavily. "Both of you are going to wait here, now I'm going to call the police." She said and saw the look in Drakes eyes. He just realized what he had done.

* * *

><p>Josh was pacing around the room nervously and jumped when he heard a voice behind him.<p>

"What's up, pacey?"

He turned around and saw Megan smiling at him. He had a quick flashback of the time _Drake _ called him that and thought for a second how similar Drake and Megan were at times.

"Haven't heard from Drake yet."

"That's weird." She said and went to the phone in her brothers room.

"It is? I mean, yeah it is." He nodded at her. "No answer?" he looked down when she shook her head. A moment later the phone rang, and Josh practically wrestled all objects in his way to grab it.

"Drake!"

* * *

><p>Drake knew exactly what was going to happen now. He had assaulted Nick. Yeah, he deserved it, but still. He was going to get charged, he was going to be in big trouble. He wasn't going to run away though, he wasn't going to be like Nick. He glanced at the boy who was sitting on Mrs. Hayfers right side. He looked banged up, he was bleeding and he looked a little swollen, but he looked all right.<p>

"It's going to be okay, Drake." said and winked at him understandingly.

"I heard everything that's been going on here." She said loud and clear and gave Nick a harsh look. The rest of the wait was made in silence.

* * *

><p>"No, this is officer Robertson. Are you family of Drake Parker?"<p>

"Officer?" Josh responded and made a confused face. He saw the look of horror in Megans eyes.

"Yes, now are you family of Drake Parker?"

"Yes, I'm his brother Josh. Is he all right?" he said and looked at Megan who was slowly walking towards him with big eyes.

"He was involved in a fight, he's being held her until we can tell what happened."

"Is he injured?"

"He broke his hand, other than that he's fine."

"I'll be right there." Josh said and hung up. He explained to Megan and before they knew it, they were in the car.

Drake had been put in a room at the station. He didn't know where they took Nick, but he knew that Mrs. Hayfer had requested to talk to the police first. They had briefly been at the hospital, but both he and Nick were fine enough to go to the station. He saw Josh and Megan burst through the doors and run to a police officer nearby. He looked at them through the glass window as he knew that the officer was explaining what happened to his siblings. He watched their faces and he couldn't really tell what they were feeling. That was until Megan started walking towards his room, she opened the door and looked at him with a mixture of anger and hurt.

"Why, Drake? Why did you have to make things worse?"

"I…I couldn't let him get away…" he almost whispered.

"Things were finally getting better." She said with tears in her eyes. Then the hurt in her eyes went away. "I didn't need you to defend me, I just needed you to be there."

"You're right, I'm sorry." He said and couldn't get rid of the lump in his throat.

Josh came in and stood next to Megan. He sighed.

"Are you all right?" he said and nodded towards Drakes bandaged hand. Drake waved his right hand around nonchalantly.

"Yeah, I'm good."

They all turned around when they heard a door being opened and they saw exit with a police officer.

"What's going to happen to you?" Megan asked with a softer, kinder voice.

"I don't know." Was all he had to say. And he really didn't know.


	13. Chapter 13

**So, this is the last chapter! I hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading and reviewing! I'll start a new story soon, so check that one out too! Now…read! ;)**

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><p>"Drake Parker, come with us please."<p>

"What's going to happen to him?" Megan said out loudly. There was a big tension in the air. Things were more than complicated at this point.

"We need you for questioning, Mr. Parker." The officer said, ignoring Megan. Drake got out of his chair quietly and walked through the door while the officer held it open for him. Both Megan and Josh watched every step that Drake took until they couldn't see him anymore. All they could do was wait.

"Questioning" didn't turn out to be what Drake had thought-questions. Instead, he basically recapped the whole incident with Nick. Every detail that he could remember. Every word that was said, every move they had both made. Drake went with the truth, he could only hope that Nick and Mrs. Hayfer did the same. It didn't take long, and it wasn't intimidating at all. It was nothing like in the movies where there would be a huge angry cop pressuring you to confess to all bunch of things or you'd get thrown in jail for the rest of your life. A few moments later Drake joined Josh again.

* * *

><p>"Where's Megan?" he said after he noticed that Josh was the only one in the room.<p>

"She went to talk to Mrs. Hayfer. She'll be back soon." Drake nodded. There was an uneasy silence between the brothers.

"So…?" Josh said and raised his eyebrows to Drake. He found it odd that Drake didn't say anything.

"Sooo….?" Drake responded while giving him a face that said "what do you mean so?"

"So…How did it go?"

"It was fine. I told them what happened."

"And what _did _happen, Drake?" Josh said with a hint of anger in his voice. "I mean, Nick walked by earlier and he looked all banged up while you don't have a scratch on you. Unless you count a broken hand."

"Look, man. The kid deserved it."

"It doesn't mean you have the right to assault him, Drake!"

"You wouldn't believe the things he said, the lack of remorse he has! I'd do it all over again if I had to!"

Josh found it hard to argue about this. After all, he wasn't sure he wouldn't have done the exact same thing Drake had. And yes, Nick did deserve it. No doubt about that.

"All right, all right." Josh responded after a while. He went to stand next to Drake and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Someone should call mom and dad." Both Drake and Josh had the same terrified expression in their faces. Quickly, they both raised their left hands.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" Tie.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" Drake won with rock. Josh made a childish face. "Every time!" he yelled out.

* * *

><p>Audrey and Walter were <em>not <em>happy about the news. They rushed in to the station and made their way to the room in which Drake, Josh and Megan were like a couple of bulldozers. When Audrey laid eyes on Drake, she seemed to look even angrier than before if that was possible.

"You had to play some kind of macho, tough guy, huh?" She yelled while holding both her arms out furiously.

"Assault, Drake! This is not how we raised you!" Walter shook his head while shouting at his step-son. Drake felt like telling him how he only raised him for the last few years of his life, but he didn't. He didn't say anything.

"What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Nothing, mom."

"Nothing?"

"Yeah, nothing." Drake said and made an arrogant teenager face, one he hadn't made in years. One that Josh knew all to well, it was the face Drake used when he felt as if he was being attacked and he didn't want to say anything he would regret.

"Look, Drake made a mistake. But nothing bad is going to happen to him. Mrs. Hayfer was there and she overheard everything that was said between him and Nick." Josh said and tried to calm his parents down, while helping Drake out at the same time.

"What is that exactly?" Walter said and Audrey was nodding behind him, letting herself in on the question.

"Nick confessed."

They all turned to look at Megan. She had just been sitting there listening to their argument. It was almost like they forgot she was there, and she was the key to this whole thing. She was the one they needed to care about right now.

"Mrs. Hayfer told me." She said when no one else wanted to break the silence.

"She's a witness now." She added and could barely understand what she was saying. Maybe things would finally come to an end.

* * *

><p>Mrs. Hayfer and Nick had been in separate rooms, until now. The teacher looked up at her student and motioned for him to sit down in front of her. He did without looking up at her. He felt weird about her being there. She was his teacher, he would get scolded when he did something bad in school, but she wasn't supposed to be here for this.<p>

"So we have two different versions of what happened today, Mr. Rivers." The officer said while circling around Nick, who was visibly shaking in his chair.

"Three people, and two versions of the same event. I think you can guess which two are telling the same story here, can you, Nick?" He said as he leaned on the table and looked at Nicks profile. The officer was pretty young, but he didn't lack authority.

"Well, I'll tell you this much; you and Mrs. Hayfer over here are _not_ telling the same story which means one of you is lying." It was obvious to Nick that the officer was just messing around ; he knew that Nick was lying, he didn't accuse Mrs. Hayfer of anything.

"Why don't you tell me what happened one more time." The officer said, his tone harsh.

Nick hesitated. It was much harder to lie with her in the room. It was easier when he was just with the police. They didn't know, they weren't there. She was there, and it was hard to sit there and lie when he knew that she knew exactly what happened. It almost felt ridiculous.

"Well, I was just sitting outside of school. Everyone else had already left, I was waiting for my dad who was running late. Drake came and started telling me to "tell the truth", about what happened with me and Megan."

"Did you? Tell him the truth, I mean."

"Yeah! I told him what I have been saying all along. I thought she wanted it. I didn't rape her."

"Mhm." The officer said and looked over at Mrs. Hayfer and noticed her shaking her head in disagreement.

"Then what happened?"

"He got mad at that, and started hitting me all of a sudden." He said and straightened his back. "The end."

The officer laughed and sat down on a chair between Nick and Mrs. Hayfer.

"Well, Mr. Rivers. Another source tells me…_two_ actually, that you told Mr. Parker a different truth." Nick didn't say anything. He felt nausea creeping in on him.

"What truth was that, Mrs. Hayfer?"

"Mr. Rivers here told Drake what really happened with Miss Parker. He sexually assaulted her. He said that she told him to stop countless times, yet he didn't respect her wishes. He justified it with-I believe his exact words were-"it's not like I'm some creep that followed her to a dark alley and raped her right then and there. She was my girlfriend, we were at my house. I thought she wanted it". Mrs. Hayfer quoted Nick with disgust. "I heard him confess to hurting Megan on several occasions.

"I see. Is this true Mr. Rivers?"

Nick was sweating and felt like he was going to faint any minute now. He didn't have it in him to respond. He didn't think it would really come to this.

"IS IT, MR. RIVERS?" the officer shouted loudly and startled both Nick and Mrs. Hayfer. Nick looked up but refused to look anyone in the eye. He nodded slowly.

* * *

><p>They were still at the police station. What felt like hours had only been about 30 minutes. Josh, Audrey and Walter had left the room, leaving Megan alone with Drake. They had been sitting in silence for quite a while now, but it wasn't awkward in any way. The two of them had reached that amazing part of a relationship where you can sit together in a comfortable silence. Drake got out of his chair and looked at Megan who had been staring at him. "I'm really sorry, Megs." He said and gave her a sincere look.<p>

"It's okay. Looks like you even made some good."

"It doesn't justify what I did."

"It's not necessary to fight weak people."

"That actually makes a lot of sense, Megan." Drake said and smiled. His smile faded away. "How you holding up?"

She shrugged. "I'm all right."

"I mean it, Megan. I want you to tell me what you're thinking. I don't want you to feel alone in this."

"I'm scared. Of a lot of things." She said and looked at her brother. "I'm scared that even if Nick gets what he deserves, I won't feel any better. I'm scared that I'll never want to fall in love again. I'm scared that this feeling in my gut is _never _going to go away. I don't think I could handle that." She said with a straight face. Drake walked over to her and put his arm around her.

"I think you just need some time to get used to the good things in life again. Let them in, you know? Live your life." He said and gently shook her shoulder. She nodded in agreement. "And about love, I'm 100 % sure you'll find it. And it'll be true and pure. And when you find the right guy, you'll just know it. He'll treat you the way you deserve, and you'll never have to worry about him hurting you. You are the most special girl out there! You're smart, beautiful, funny, talented…" Drake said while absently stroking her hair. She smiled. It was the first time in forever someone sincerely said nice things about her, and it felt good.

"And it's not _if _he gets what he deserves. He _will_ get what's coming to him."

"Yeah." She said. "Thank you, Drake." She said and leaned her head on his shoulder.

* * *

><p>"I want to see him." She said to Walter who was picking out something in the fridge.<p>

"Nick, I want to see Nick." She said after realizing she never included his name. Walter froze at that and looked at her strangely. "What? Why, Megan?"

"I just have to."

"You don't have to, sweetie."

"It's been a week since he was arrested, and I know it'll help me move on. Please?"

"Are…are you sure it's really going to… _help _you?"

"Yes."

* * *

><p>She had requested to see him alone. She didn't want any distractions. She wanted to be able to say anything she wanted without taking one of her family members into consideration. Luckily, Drake only had to pay a small fine for beating up Nick. No jury would ever charge him under the circumstances. She followed a very bored guard to a big room with loads of other people. All of them in separate tables, minding their own business. She froze at the sight of Nick, but pushed herself to be strong and go through with this. She sat in front if him.<p>

"Hey." He said and Megan noticed how he looked awfully tired.

"Hey." She responded. She had planned out a bunch of things she was going to say, but all of that seemed silly at this point.

"How are you doing?" she said after a short awkward silence.

"Okay. It's hard being 18 in prison though." Megan nodded lightly.

"This room has windows" he said and looked to his left. "It's nice." He added. Megan thought about how sunny this day had been. She had never thought of going outside as a privilege, but to many people it was. A ray of sun made its way to Nicks face, making his almost black eyes appear lighter. Looking in his eyes made Megan remember why she had come here in the first place.

"What happened?" she asked him with a straight face. He looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"We were fine for a long time, then you changed. What happened?" she said, looking him in the eyes. She needed to know if she had done something to anger him, to cause all of this.

"I don't know, things just changed I guess."

"That's not good enough." She answered angrily. "You bossed me around, you were jealous, you hit me. Why?"

"I needed to!"

"Why?" she said again, calmly.

"Because I'm the man, I'm the one in charge!" he said with a hushed, but angry tone. Megan raised her eyebrows and pulled her head back a bit.

"My mom always bosses my dad around, it's not the way it's supposed to be."

"You're sick."

"She thought she could do whatever because he would never hit a woman. Neither would I."

"But you did." She said between her teeth. "What gives you the right?"

"Look, I know you hate me-"

"I don't hate you. I don't have time to think anything of someone like you."

"Then why'd you come here?" he said with a hint of a smile.

"Cause I want you to apologize." And there it was. She wasn't sure Nick was going to say it, and if he did- he might not even mean it. But she desperately wanted to hear it.

"I'm sorry." He said and almost looked pathetic. She felt superior to him, in a good way. Like what he said or did from now on couldn't affect her. She nodded and got out of her chair. "Goodbye, Nick."

Walking to the car was like flying. It didn't feel as good as she had expected it to. It felt even better. She got in to the car, her own car. She didn't need people to give her rides anymore. She drove off and put on some music. Some summer music, and drove home with a good feeling for the first time in really long time. That bad feeling _was_ going to go away, she was sure of it.


End file.
